Opening of the Gates
by Malistar
Summary: WoW The story of the Ahn'Qiraj opening event, with characters from Earthen Ring EU server. Field medic's point of view.


A/N: This is the onle finished fic I have, based on Azeroth, and the characters mentioned in the story exist on Earthen Ring EU server, Ilenora is mine and the rest are my guildmates. This tells the story of the Ahn'Qiraj opening event, IC view naturally. It didn't in reality go quite like that, what with terrible lag and server crashing and stuff, but this is something it might have been if the server wasn't hosted on a bloody gameboy. GG Blizz. Gief decent server ffs. The speech is also my own making, don't blame Avi if it sounds corny. :P

Enjoy!

**Opening of the Gates**

It was early morning, the sun had barely breached the horizon and was starting its climb over the sky, but the Cenarion Hold in Silithus was already wide awake. Not for a long time if ever before had Silithus seen such a mighty host gather uopn its barren ground; Stormwind troopers camped alongside the forces of Orgrimmar, Tauren soldiers beside Kaldorei elites, all races of the Alliance and the Horde for once united under a common purpose. And among the official forces of each race, there were countless bands of mercenaries and adventurers, who had committed their swords and lives to the cause of protecting Azeroth.

And it was just as well, for the peril they were going to face would require every bit of co-operation between the factions. The ancient evil that had awakened in the depths of the Ahn'Qiraj wouldn't watch idle if the defenders of Azeroth started bickering among themselves, but would take the chance the destroy all of them all the more easily.

Ilenora Tremaile was watching the camp as its inhabitants were going about their business, making last-minute preparations. In an hour they would march to the Gates of Ahn'Qiraj, to deal a first blow at the enemy, hoping that the attack would catch them by surprise, unprepared. Ilenora was one of the healers who would follow the armies to the Gates. A Priestess by education and field medic by fate, she had seen her share of bloodshed in her lifetime, but she braced herself against the horrors to come and resolved to save as many lives as possible.

Casting one last glance towards the Southern horizon – in that direction lay the ancient Temple of Ahn'Qiraj – Ilenora turned around and started walking towards the medics' tent. It was time to get ready, the order to ride out would be given shortly.

She found her horse already saddled, and smiled gratefully at the young-looking orc who was holding it still for her. The orc nodded curtly, and his face displayed something that Ilenora interpreted as a smile, though it might as well have been just a grimace. She mounted up and joined the rest of the medic team by the supply wagons. The horse seemed relieved to get some distance between itself and the orc.

"Nervous?" a friendly voice asked. Ilenora took a moment to realise that she was being addressed, and to recognise the tall man as Leofrey, one of the Priests in charge of the healer team. He stood only slightly taller than Ilenora, who was rather tall for a woman, but there was something about the way the dark-haired man carried himself that made him seem taller. The look in his green eyes, however, was kind and reassuring.

Ilenora shook her head. "Not yet. There will be plenty of time for that along the way," she replied in a calm voice.

Leofrey nodded. "Just as long as you keep your head cool when the fighting starts. We will have a lot of work I'm afraid."

"I know." Ilenora smiled a little. "I'm not exactly for the first time on the field, you know."

The older Priest seemed about to say something, but then the sound of a horn signaled the order to move out. "I know," Leofrey only said before urging his mount to follow the wagons. Ilenora hurried after him, in hopes of further conversation to make the day pass faster, but the man seemed lost in thought and she decided not to interfere.

The day went on slowly. Around midday they halted briefly to eat and rest the horses. Some hours after that they were slowed by a minor sandstorm that caused more annoyance than real harm, but was nonetheless bad for overall morale. The creatures awaiting beyond the Gates were already a mysterious, faceless threat and didn't need bad weather to make things more dificult. To everyone's great relief, though, the sandstorm passed swiftly and left the army to continue the long march in a bright sunshine.

At sunset, they made camp beside the road, and in the morning continued again. Today, they would reach the Gates of Ahn'Qiraj. Today, they would taste the first wave of the horrors that were gathering force inside the Temple.

Today, many of them might never see another sunset.

Some hours after midday they set their camp up in a safe distance from where the actual fighting was predicted to take place. Ilenora kept herself busy arranging things in the medical tent, so that everything would be ready at hand when it was needed. Everything was as ready as it would be, when Leofrey suddenly stormed in.

"They're going to sound the gong soon," he said. "You can go and watch if you wish. We're talking about the most important day in the history of our lifetime, after all," he added quickly when Ilenora was about to protest. "Just make sure you're back here when I need you."

Ilenora nodded quickly and hurried towards the gathered crowd. In the centre of everyone's attention, stood a huge gong. On the platform, next to the gong, stood a small group of people. Even from distance Ilenora recognised Commander Avitus, the leader of one of the independend military forces within the Alliance, and some of his officers. Mighty elven warrior Lithandrill stood at Avitus' right shoulder, towering a good head taller than the human paladin, his long white hair flowing in the wind. On his left, were the bald, almost barbaric-looking human warrior Splitarra and, as a stark contrast, the noble paladin Gawain. The Commander himself seemed to be surrounded by an aura of light; whether it was an incidental trick of sunlight or a deliberate effect Ilenora couldn't tell. All of them wore an equally determined expression as they faced the crowd. They made an impressive sight, and suddenly, despite the danger and horrors of the upcoming battle, Ilenora was proud to be witnessing that day.

Avitus raised his hand, and the crowd fell silent almost instantly. When he spoke, his voice was not loud, but still it carried easily over the crowd by some magical means. "I do not know," he started, "exactly what creatures await us beyond those gates. What kind of horrors we will face. None of us knows." He let his gaze sweep over the crowd, as if emphasizing the next words with the brief silence. "I cannot honestly say, that I stand here completely unafraid." Another pause. Then he raised his voice, "But what I do know is that when they come, we will give them a welcome that they will not soon forget, we will face them in a battle and drive them back to the hellhole where they came from."

"This day will be remembered in the history as the day of our initial victory against the Qiraji forces, victory that will set our course in this battle and eventually lead to the eradication of this ancient evil from the face of Azeroth, this time for good."

The crowd burst into loud cheers and shouts, and he let them go on for a short while until he raised his hand again. Again, there was instant silence. Ilenora thought she could, even from the distance, see the look of steel hard determination in his gray eyes as the scepter was brought to him. "Positions! Take positions!" Lithandrill yelled in his booming voice that carried far without any magical enhancement. Avitus raised the scepter and sounded the gong...

The gong, despite being a thousand years old, rang with a clear, brassy sound. It resonated through the air like a mighty clash of thunder, with the fatality of a thousand church bells, making Ilenora's skin crawl. Then another sound turned people's attention away from the gong and Commander Avitus, towards the gates.

The ancient Gates of the Temple of Ahn'Qiraj were slowly, slowly opening.

A collective gasp ran through the crowd as they stared, frozen, at the parting gates. That only lasted for a moment, though, as Lithandrill's voice cut through the noise and broke the trance-like state of the soldiers. "Take positions!" Quickly, but in perfect order, the troops moved to their positions on each side of the gates, and not a second too early. The gates were now fully open, and the ground was shaking in the rythm of something huge walking. Then a gigantic figure emerged through the gates. It was like a huge statue, vaguely human in form except for its head, which resembled some sort of a dog.

"By the Light, what _is_ that thing?!" Ilenora could hear someone next to her mutter. She had no time to speculate, though, as she remembered that she should be at the medical tent with Leofrey and other healers. As she turned and ran, she could hear the footsteps of other such creatures, and for the very first time she briefly doubted their chances of victory. She pushed the thought from her mind when she entered the tent and faced Leofrey.

"It has begun," the Priest said grimly. Ilenora nodded wordlessly. Leofrey sighed. "We can only wait and see."

Inside the medical tent, the sounds of the battle seemed somewhat more distant. It didn't help Ilenora relax, though. Quite the opposite, she found herself straining to hear more clearly, trying to envision what might be happening at the gates. Found herself wishing that someone would come and keep them updated on the situation. Of course, that would mean that someone had been injured badly enough to be ordered to the medics immediately.

Hell, it was a battle like Azeroth hadn't seen for a thousand years! Of course there would be wounded soldiers... Very likely there were casualties already! Ilenora shook her head in frustration, earning a concerned if a bit distracted look from Leofrey. She managed a semblance of a smile, to assure that nothing was wrong. The other Priest didn't look too convinced, but didn't press the matter. There were more important things at the moment than a field medic's worries.

The first soldier to stagger in was, judging from the black-and-gold tabard, one of Commander Avitus' troops. His left arm hung awkwardly to his side, and he seemed about to faint from the loss of blood. Leofrey helped him lie down and started removing the soldier's armor. When he saw the full extend of the damage he swore under his breath. "You'll be lucky to keep your arm, lad." The soldier nodded grimly. "Do what you must," he managed weakly.

The day dragged on, and after that first wounded soldier had come in there wasn't an idle moment for the medics. Some didn't survive, and no matter how Ilenora tried to tell herself that people dying was in the nature of war, she knew that the faces of the dead soldiers would haunt her dreams for the next weeks. Towards the evening, the sounds of the battle seemed to grow more quiet, and finally die out. Ilenora looked at Leofrey, who shrugged. "Go and see if you must, but get back here quickly, we still have work to do."

Ilenora darted towards the door, but almost ran into two men entering the tent. She nearly tripped over but managed to avoid crashing into Commander Avitus and Captain Splitarra. They paid little attention to her, however. "It's just a scratch, I'm sure the medics have enough work as it is..." Splitarra was saying.

"And I told you already that we know nothing about those creatures, even the smallest scratch could turn into a nasty infection," Avitus replied. "Now sit down and let master Leofrey here take a look at it. I'd rather keep you able to fight, Light knows I'm going to need every capable man soon enough..."

Splitarra obeyed finally, though he didn't care to keep his opinion about "too much fuss over nothing" private. Ilenora watched Avitus as he waited for Leofrey to patch Splitarra up.

"Is it over?" she finally dared to ask.

The Commander glanced at her, shaking his head tiredly. "Far from over, miss. We have won a battle... But the war of the Qiraj has just begun."


End file.
